Friday, February 3, 2012

Schneiderman Goes After Banks' Frauds on Courts

AG Eric Schneiderman has filed suit against several of the nation’s largest banks, charging that the creation and use of a private national Mortgage Electronic Registry System has resulted in “a wide range of deceptive and fraudulent foreclosure filings in New York state and federal courts, harming homeowners and undermining the integrity of the judicial foreclosure process.” In broad terms, the suit alleges that the banks used MERS as a front for millions of home loans that made it easy to securitize the living daylights out of those mortgages. The AG further alleges that MERS has fraudulently identified itself as the plaintiff in foreclosure actions although it lacks the documentation to claim ownership of the loans in question. MERS has been the target of numerous legal actions, including ongoing actions by Massachusetts and Delaware. Unlike many of those suits, this one alleges fraudulent practices as opposed to questioning MERS’ standard — or “standard” — business practices, or its very existence as structured. Suits questioning the company on that basis have encountered resistance from many state courts, most recently in Idaho. The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, seeks “a declaration that the alleged practices violate the law, as well as injunctive relief, damages for harmed homeowners, and civil penalties” — which could be a very big bill indeed for the plaintiffs. The suit was clearly in development long before Schneiderman was tapped by President Barack Obama to co-chair a special task force on just the sort of abuses that are being alleged.

Defendents include Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, which are identified as “MERS certifying officers” and are accused of having “repeatedly submitted court documents containing false and misleading information that made it appear that the foreclosing party had the authority to bring a case when in fact it may not have,” according to the AG’s release. The lawsuit names JPMorgan, Chase Bank, Bank of America and Wells Fargo as well as Virginia-based MERSCORP and its subsidiary, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems. The lawsuit further asserts that the MERS System has effectively eliminated homeowners’ and the public’s ability to track property transfers through the traditional public records system. Instead, this information is now stored only in a private database – which is plagued with inaccuracies and errors – over which MERS and its financial institution members exercise sole control. Additional defendants include BAC Home Loans Servicing, LP, Chase Home Finance LLC, EMC Mortgage Corporation, and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc. “The banks created the MERS system as an end-run around the property recording system, to facilitate the rapid securitization and sale of mortgages. Once the mortgages went sour, these same banks brought foreclosure proceedings en masse based on deceptive and fraudulent court submissions, seeking to take homes away from people with little regard for basic legal requirements or the rule of law,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “Our action demonstrates that there is one set of rules for all – no matter how big or powerful the institution may be – and that those rules will be enforced vigorously. Only through real accountability for the illegal and deceptive conduct in the foreclosure crisis will there be justice for New York’s homeowners.”

Here’s the response from MERS: MERSCORP, Inc., and its subsidiary, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS) comply with laws as well as county and state recording statutes and mortgage regulations. Federal and state courts around the country have repeatedly upheld the MERS business model, and the validity of MERS as legal mortgagee and nominee for lenders. We refute the attorney general’s claims and will defend the case vigorously in court.

More from the AG’s press release:

The financial industry created MERS in 1995 to allow financial institutions to evade local county recording fees, avoid the hassle and paperwork of publicly recording mortgage transfers, and facilitate the rapid sale and securitization of mortgages. MERS operates as a membership organization, and most large companies that participate in the mortgage industry – by originating loans, buying or investing in loans, or servicing loans – are members, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Over 70 million loans nationally have been registered in MERS System, including about 30 million currently active loans. Through their membership in MERS, these companies avoided publicly recording the purchase and sale of mortgages by designating MERS Inc. – a shell company with no economic interest in any mortgage loan – as the “nominal” mortgagee of the loan in the public records. Instead, MERS members were supposed to log mortgage transfers in the MERS private electronic registry. The basic theory behind MERS is that, because MERS Inc. serves as a “nominee” (or agent) for most major lenders, it remains the “mortgagee” in the public records regardless of how often the loan is sold or transferred among MERS members. Thus, although MERSCORP has only about 70 employees, MERS Inc. serves as the mortgagee of record for tens of millions of loans registered in the MERS System. MERS has granted over 20,000 “certifying officers” the authority to act on its behalf, including the authority to assign mortgages, to execute paperwork necessary to foreclose, and to submit filings on behalf of MERS in bankruptcy proceedings. These certifying officers are not MERS employees, but instead are employed by MERS members, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo. MERS’ conduct, as well as the servicers’ use of the MERS System, has resulted in the filing of improper New York foreclosure proceedings, undermined the integrity of the judicial process, created confusion and uncertainty concerning property ownership interests, and potentially clouded titles on properties throughout the State of New York. In fact, several New York judges have questioned the standing of the foreclosing party in cases involving MERS loans and the validity of mortgage assignments executed by MERS certifying officers.

The lawsuit specifically charges that the defendants have engaged in the following fraudulent and deceptive practices:

MERS has filed over 13,000 foreclosure actions against New York homeowners listing itself as the plaintiff, but in many instances, MERS lacked the legal authority to foreclose and did not own or hold the promissory note, despite saying otherwise in court submissions.

MERS certifying officers, including employees and agents of JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, have repeatedly executed and submitted in court legal documents purporting to assign the mortgage and/or note to the foreclosing party. These documents contain numerous defects, including affirmative misrepresentations of fact, which render them false, deceptive, and/or invalid. These assignments were often automatically generated and “robosigned” by individuals who did not review the underlying property ownership records, confirm the documents’ accuracy, or even read the documents. These false and defective assignments often masked gaps in the chain of title and the foreclosing party’s inability to establish its authority to foreclose, and as a result have misled homeowners and the courts.

MERS’ indiscriminate use of non-employee “certifying officers” to execute vital legal documents has confused, misled, and deceived homeowners and the courts and made it difficult to ascertain whether a party actually has the right to foreclose. MERS certifying officers have regularly executed and submitted in court mortgage assignments and other legal documents on behalf of MERS without disclosing that they are not MERS employees, but instead are employed by other entities, such as the mortgage servicer filing the case or its counsel. The signature line just indicates that the individual is an “Assistant Secretary,” “Vice President,” or other officer of MERS. Indeed, these documents often purport to assign the mortgage to the certifying officer’s own employer. Moreover, as a result of the defendants’ failure to track the designation of certifying officers and the scope of their authority to act, individuals have executed legal documents on behalf of MERS, such as mortgage assignments and loan modifications, when they were either not designated as a MERS certifying officer at the time or were not authorized to execute documents on behalf of MERS with respect to the subject loan.

MERS and its members have deceived and misled borrowers about the importance and ramifications of MERS’ role with respect to their loan by providing inadequate disclosures.

The MERS System is riddled with inaccuracies which make it difficult to verify the chain of title for a loan or the current note-holder, and creates confusion among stakeholders who rely on the information. In addition, as a result of these inaccuracies, MERS has filed mortgage satisfactions against the wrong property. The lawsuit seeks a declaration that the alleged practices violate the law, as well as injunctive relief, damages for harmed homeowners, and civil penalties. The lawsuit also seeks a court order requiring defendants to take all actions necessary to cure any title defects and clear any improper liens resulting from their fraudulent and deceptive acts and practices.

The matter is being handled by Deputy Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Consumer Frauds & Protection Jeffrey K. Powell, Assistant Attorney General Clare Norins, and Assistant Solicitor General Steven C. Wu, under the supervision of First Deputy Attorney General Harlan Levy.

50 comments:

victim
said...

I hope the Attorney General also has the balls to bring down and prosecute the lawyers who participated in the bank and court frauds, and also the lawyers who closed their eyes to those frauds. These greedy bastards have really harmed the economic state of this country. It will take years to recover!

Weren't all these foreclosures handled in the courts? What were the judges doing while this was going on? Don't tell me they had no idea that this was all a scam. Who was looking at those documents? If these were bench trial, wasn't it the judges responsibility to look over the documents? It's not like they could have trusted the attorneys to be honest. No one is that stupid.

This just Obama's Eric Holder and Schneiderman going after the little fish and ignoring the big fish which sold the securities and gave them a favorable rating in return for large fees. Goldman was certainly generous for both Obama and Scheiderman. Goldman's, for large profits, defrauded investors by claiming the securities were high quality when they knew the opposite. And then Moody's, whose large stake holder was Warren Buffet, fraudulently rated the securities as high quality. Is Scheiderman just a dumb lackey for Holder protecting Obama's largest contributors, or will Scheiderman also take a share of the protection money? So the banks and their depositors will take the hit and the major buyers of AG protection will escape.

A great many of the alleged foreclosures were flawed, the courts (Judges) and the attorneys all turned a blind eye(s) towards all the corruption. Attorneys lie for other Attorneys plain and simple. Now after they got caught they have a problem, too bad!

Schneiderman must be aware that state and county fficials were benefitting from double and triple funding these mortgages. What I have learned because I have the documents as proof.My former husband has been employed by the county of Suffolk NY under an alias. His job is to take the notes and deeds. Make three versions of the land description sec.blk and lot # and 3 versions of the purchasers name. Ex.John Jones, John W. Jones & John Wiliam Jones the 2nd. All items being funded on one purchase. Three mortgages funded on one house. What they are doing is writting the differing descriptions on a piece of white tape for the two phonies. When it comes time to file. Peeling off the tape fill in the legitimate description ile in the clerks office.I have some of the ones with the tape still on. When my ex husband stole my deed at my closing. He must have forgotten to peel off the sticker. I found the same thing on our marital home.This is true. Anyone interested. Take a ride to the county center in Riverhead. Go to the print rom and pull up some random morgage filings and deed transfers. Sometimes the small oblong area will still show where the tape was or was forgotten to be removed. Also note that the handwritting is remarkably similar on all recordings. Past 25 years. I learned this while attempting to divorce my estranged husband. Many strange things occured in this corrupt system called the New York court system. This is what led me to his involvement in rampant mortgage fraud involving judges and other county employees in Suffolk County.What has been happening is that every time I try to get before a judge in Suffolk my case gets dismissed and my index # gets changed. I began cross ref. judges name in the county recording office. Low and behold there it was. Every ime I was assigned to a judge. That judge got a subprime mortgage coinciding with my court case. Same mortgage would get a mers satifaction in my husbands hand writting on or about the same day of my court appearance. My case would then be dismissed or ruled in favor of my husband.TELL MR. SCHNEIDERMAN TO INVESTIGATE THIS.All facts all documentary proofs color coded in my massive fraud file.Anyone interested in helping to expose this leave a comment.

SOLID PROOF IN BLACK AND WHITE MEANS NOTHING IN A LAWLESS THIRD WORLD SOCIETY.GO READ THE MARTY TANKLEFF BLOG.THE REAL KILLERS,THEIR FRIENDS,OFFSPRING,GIRLFRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES HAVE ALL CONFESSED ON TAPE AND IN DEPOSITION.SUFFOLK COUNTY DOES NOTHING.THE STATE OF NY DOES NOTHING.THE LEAD DETECTIVE OPENED A BAR WITH MARTYS SISTER WHO INHERITED MARTYS MONEY DUE TO HIS INCARCERATION.YOUR FOUNDING FATHERS GAVE YOU THE SECOND AMMENDMENT FOR A VERY SPECIFIC REASON.SEND YOUR INFO TO WWW.WHATREALLYHAPPENED.COM WRH@WHATREALLYHAPPENED.COM

ALSO BLACK STAR NEWS.COMREAD ALL ABOUT THE MURDER OF SUNNY SHUE BY A FORCLOSURE JUDGE IN QUEENS KEEP POSTING

Yes and many of those properties are obtained by stealing from the deceased. That is another story. I also did my own investigating in the surrogates court. Which is just a short walk from the print center. where I found the mortgage fraud. Lots of judges with lots of subprime mortgages.Satisfied MERS.Then 6 months later it gets satisfied. They get another. My husband was employed in a dealership automobile. In the finance dept. I did not know he was also doing mortgage fraud and I was a Real Estate Salesperson. Never discussed it with me. Secret life. There is more.I would leave the county center shaking.Shocked at what I saw. You think you know pople. Then you find out you don't. Suffolk County Police involved, Sheriffs dept.Most of the elected officials. Your local bank employee the one sitting up on the platform.All working hand in hand incl lawyers of course.

It states that Brooklyn Law school is engaged in "“systemic, ongoing fraud”"

No surprise there. Isn't that what they are being trained to do?

Then it continues:

"It’s one of 12 lawsuits filed against law schools across the country by disgruntled grads who say that despite a job market saturated with lawyers, schools have continued to promise stellar results."

That seem like a lot considering there are less than 200 law schools in the US. And the number of lawsuits keeps growing.

One of the plaintiffs actually believed that the school was being honest with them:

"In enrolling in the school, Bevelacqua “specifically relied on Brooklyn Law’s representation that, depending on the year, well over 90 percent of Brooklyn Law graduates secured employment within nine months of graduation.”"

Apparently there is at least someone sticking up for the school. Amanda Lui said "most students don’t choose a law school based on employment stats."

The scam of the legal profession starts before they take their first class.

Steve Levy has to be a big part of the mortgage fraud ring in Suffolk.They are all part of a criminal enterprise. Disquised as officials. Sme with the local banks. If you are not one of them. You are not getting employed.Levys office was at the H. Lee Dennison Building. I have hard proof that my ex.has been receiving a direct deposit pay check under an alias. The employer?The County of Suffolk.$48.000 per year plus benefits. I n addition to the car dealership finance job. What does he really do for Suffolk? Financial fraud.All types including IRS.Today I got an email from Crystal Cox.Asking for me to send her documents. I am sending them tomorrow so she can post some of my experiences. This stuff all stamped filed some with seals. My ex given free access Suffolk County. Imagine this guy making phony birth and death certificates?Leading to Life Insurance fraud, Birth certificates used to acquire Soc. Sec.numbers for people who do not exist.This is a disgrace to our country. A crime against America.Military life insurance policies on the deceased who were veterans. My Dad being one.It is sickening when t is personal. For me it is very pesonal.

By the way..watch those phones..OCA has the desire to wiretap and follow you over anything they deem to be an expose.Check you outside lines daily and only communicate in writing..no phones or computers..and watch for the same car or cars racing by you!Have your back with people who can take care of business if OCA gets itchy!

Schneiderman sold out, he was greased, and is playing his bit part. The banks and their attorneys/law firms have engaged in criminal fraud with the mortgages and their ownership or lack of ownership proof as the 'case' maybe. The purpose of this Scheiderman et al. sleight of hand was to wash/launder the mortgages so that ownership might be established, remember these mortgages were pooled and the criminals sold the same mortgages many times over since they controled the mortgage registration records (MERS). What a great business! In point of fact the dirty secret is that no one knows who owner what, there is no proof and that's the problem! The settlement deal is part of the con - it's a coverup to protect the TOO BIG TO FAIL! Follow the money!

I guess the same thing (mtges)were sold 10 times over and since the criminals were running the game everything was nice. Somebody made a hell of a lot of money. Then they got caught and they run to their fellow criminals in the government to pull the cover up scam. Dirty paper now has a new meaning. How sweet it is

Cops what are you kidding. My ex is giving Suffolk County Corrupt Cops mortgage satisfactions too. Last night. Three SCPD Cop cars pulled up to my house. Barged in my door, shoved me out of the way. Grabbed my teenaged son ushered out the front door. Put him in a Cop car. What did he do? Not a damn thing.He was abducted and brought to his father who was waiting around the block. Dad is a Dead Beat Dad who abandoned his youngest son at 6 years old. Yet he unknown to me. Has been claiming both son and myself as tax exemptions past 10 years IRS. He has not supported us. Now IRS knows and is after him. So he sends SCPD thugs aka cops to my house to abduct my son. Thinks he will fool IRS. I think not.

Harmel pointed out that one of the charges pending against Napoli is for loitering in his own house, a charge he cannot see standing up to the scrutiny of a trial.

After hearing from Napoli’s attorney and the neighbors, the Town Council decided to add a late agenda item to the meeting to vote on declaring the Napoli house a public nuisance. The vote passed 5 – 0 and the town attorney will begin taking action immediately which can include receivership of the property.

Questions about Stuart Besen’s work ethicNancy Gambi approached the dais and asked the Town Council why Stuart Besen who was voted out of office last fall was given a $50,000 part-time job with the Town this year. She then asked if the Town Council was aware that his time card showed he had done four days’ work for the Town in the last three months. Gambi pointed out that if her information about Besen’s time cards is accurate, his daily rate is $3125. The Board did not have enough info to comment on Besen’s timesheet but promised to look into the matter.

I have been loading my fraud proof re my ex being the mortgage fradster of all time in Suffolk. Putting them on a flashdrive. Sending them to Crystal email. A few each day. Time consuming bbut hope it will be worth the trouble to expose the abundance of rats in Suffolk county. They are like real rats. Hiding everywhere come out in the darkness. Scurry when the lights go on. Ugly virulant creatures these rats. Contact I am thinking of a way for you to contact me. Not ignoring your request. Just being careful. They know that I am on to them. They don't know how much I am on to them. It is a lot more than they can imagine. Lying low.

Let me guess. Right on . Judge Kent hates womwen and children.My case was fixed from the get go. Filed for divorcein 2000. Judge Kent is the most dispicable creep that I ever came cross. With the exception of the man I married and can't divorce. All I get are index numbers. Kent I thinks it is hyterical to call him Honorable. Just can't keep a straight face and call him your Honor. When what he is..is a Scum Bag with a capital S.I am very even don't use vile language or think those thoughts... bad karma. But what Kent did to my family. He should rot in hell for. I can't even pray for his rotten soul. I plan to send Crystal some transcripts from my hearings before him way back. Abusive Bastard. Yes hates women. Probably had a bad Mother like my ex. So these wimpy power hungry types. Take their anger out on innocent nice women & children. Not their mean ugly Mothers who were the real villians but people like you & me and our children. I HATE HIM AND I DON'T LIKE TO HATE ANYONE. HE IS VICIOUS,DISPICABLE & A LOW DOWN CROOK. hE SOLD OUT MY FAMILY FOR A FEW MORTGAGE SATISFACTIONS.One on his Fire Island home that he probably stole from someone they murdered. Really people are being stalked, sized up their assets.Banks involved illegally snooping in safe deposit boxes so after these people are murdered they know what they have and they take it. Jewelery, deeds to homes and the iceing on the cake. Prior to murdering these victims. Life insurance policies are obtained. The insurnce fraud as bad as the mortgage fraud. I would leave but they kidnapped my son. I intend to go to his school with my custody order grab him back. Any day now. Another thing is my ex stalks me atches what I do thinks he can prevent me from financial transactions to prevent IRS from finding out what he has been doing.IRSknow everything even the straw people employed by Suffolk. Yes fake people on the payroll filing taxes,they have cars and lots of credit. Wait til this breaks. Between GOD & I it will.

The Honor (ha ha ha) Judge Wm.Kent. Ordered me to sign some phony stipulation put together in m abscence or he was going to hold me responsible for my husbands legal fees to his attorney. William H.Sweeney (another scumbag low life, sleaze.)Kent already gave everything to my ex. Mortgage fraud seems to be a big hit with the judges and clerks. My ex has no friends he is a psychopath but he has power. He also shares a birthday with Tricky Dicky aka Richard Nickson.I am appalled at the behavior of our officials in Suffolk.

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Re: U.S. Department of Justice

April 20, 2009: We expect to have the name of a specific contact person soon, to whom information may be presented to regarding any complaint and/or information filed with any FBI agent, squad or regional office that needs re-review, reconsideration or special attention. Meanwhile, the address is:U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Professional Responsibility, Room 3266, 950 Pennsylvania, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20530 --- Send us an email request and we will advise you directly once the contact information is made available.

April 20, 2009: WANTED!! - (1) Your ignored complaints to the Commission on Judicial Conduct; and (2) Your ignored or whitewashed complaints to any New York State Attorney Ethics Committee.SEND PDF FILES TO: CorruptCourts@gmail.com

Judge to Cancer Patient: No $$ for Treatment - See Thursday, June 14, 2007 Post

In Fairness to the Courts…

It is not easy being a judge, and disgraceful that the public usually only hears about the bad judges. And while this forum attempts to expose the reprehensible acts of corrupt courts, it is important to be fair to the many under-appreciated law-abiding judges and court employees. Judges are grossly under compensated, and must rely heavily on unnamed staff who sometimes carry their own biases and improper political agendas. So let's expose and eradicate the corruption, but we are socially obligated to consider: (1) how do we get our judges adequately compensated; and (2) what specific and constructive suggestions can be made and implemented to insure the integrity of our courts. Send, too, ideas to make the courts a better system for all of us!!

Our year-long investigation has confirmed that the purported judicial "ethics" enforcer, The New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, is itself a biased, corrupt group that protects certain judges while destroying others who have become targets of the political thugs who control them. Something is terribly wrong when even our honest and law-abiding judges are failed by our justice system. The New York State system of justice is a corrupt process that has all but ruined the faith of the people in their government.

Milberg Weiss

Robert R. Reed

Position Available:Another NY Judge needed to be a Hero For Future Generations -- We need another elected New York Judge to come forward and speak out about the systemic corruption within and about the NY court system. Must be willing to assist in plans to restore integrity and the rule of law back to our treasured courts. Benefits: A good nights sleep, and an opportunity to become a hero for future generations. --- Salary: None --- Details: A few private meetings with friendly Federal Agents, and one big explosive press conference. For more details, contact: corruptcourts@gmail.com (Confidentiality Guaranteed- until the press conference, of course)

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Hope in the Fight Against Corruption in Our Courts Has Arrived. Her Name is Ann T. Pfau.